Lord Alan Sugar: Donald Trump was 'fired' from 'The Apprentice'

Lord Alan Sugar has claimed his American counterpart President Donald Trump was fired from 'Celebrity Apprentice' before he even announced his bid for the presidency in June 2015.

Lord Sugar — who is the businessman who hires and fires on 'The Apprentice' in the UK — has claimed there was an "an air of mystique" about the 71-year-old businessman's exit from the NBC show and is convinced he was dropped from the programme before he announced he was running for the White House in June 2015.

Speaking at the launch of the new series of the British 'Apprentice' in London on Tuesday, Lord Sugar said: "There's an air of mystique before Trump went into the presidency race. Apparently NBC had fired him from the 'Apprentice' anyway but it got caught up in a bit of smoke and mirrors."

However, Trump claimed at the time that he had decided to walk away from the game show because NBC were unhappy about his political ambitions.

The show was recommissioned and bosses decided to hire Arnold Schwarzenegger, 70, as the new host but, following a plunge in ratings, he has since stepped down.

Although the future of the programme is currently up in the air following the actor's departure, Lord Sugar believes producers have actually decided to axe it

He explained: "We're completely different people. That's why the UK Apprentice is a success and the American Apprentice has actually been canned at the moment. Schwarzenegger did it and NBC have just dropped it now."

Meanwhile, the 70-year-old business magnate couldn't resist poking fun at his American counterpart and quipped that he's terrible at managing people, especially since becoming the 45th President of the United States.

Speaking of Trump, Lord Sugar said: "He hasn't had to fire people, they have just left. He's gone through quite a few people - he has quite a simple process: If you don't agree with him, you're out. It's as simple as that. At the moment, his communication skills with Kim Jong-un are quite comical. They should make a show over it."